N.J. Looking Into Pay for Community-College Chiefs

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has ordered an investigation of compensation for presidents at the state's community colleges after a report found annual salary and benefit packages as high as $441,000, says Bloomberg.

Sixteen of the state's 19 two-year colleges paid their top administrators more than the national average of $165,000, and perks such as luxury cars and country-club memberships padded compensation for many, according to the study issued May 30 by New Jersey Comptroller Matt Boxer.

Presidential wages have been set by individual colleges' trustees since the state ceded control of community colleges in 1994, resulting in a lack of guidelines and "huge disparities" in compensation, Mr. Boxer said. Tuition and fees at New Jersey community colleges are among the highest in the country at $4,111 a year for in-state students.

"It’s not fair to the tuition-payers and their families, and it’s not fair to the taxpayers who subsidize at the county level and the state level the operations of county colleges," Gov. Christie said upon the report's release.